On Character Voice

This is going to be a short one, I promise.

Today, I wanted to take a moment to talk about character voice. We all know about finding our Voice, but sometimes even when we find that, it is hard to find your characters voice. For those of you who are probably confused about there, here is what I mean. When you are writing, you have a Voice. This is how you tell your story that is unique to anyone else who writes. There is no way in the world that your voice is going to be the exact same voice for any other writer. Everyone has their way of putting things, and as similar as one's voice might be to another's, their Voice is all their own. The only time a Voice will be the same is if you are literally rewriting--in the very sense that is copying--someone else's words. Now, let us move on to Character Voice. Character Voice is just characterization. What I mean by this is that, each character is a unique individual, not much unlike ourselves in the real world.

Now, Character Voice and Voice in general can conflict. Depending on your Voice, how you write, your Character Voice may be lacking. Characters should be believable, and not forced. They become forced when you write how you talk. This is what you should avoid. There is a way to write and there is a way to talk. When you write, you should pretty much because a whole other person. For instance, I sometimes write under the pseudonym Jonnah Z. Kennedy. What I have found is that, I seem to write better when I am writing as Jonnah and not myself. I seem to come up with better figurative language, and my voice ultimately changes because of it. This goes on to the point we have begun with. When you are talking, you do not use figurative language, you do not express things in a detailed and complex way, and when you are talking you certainly don't take into account what Point of View you are 'talking' in. You simply, talk. You use slang, you say things in a simple way, and you rarely use any words above 7 letters if necessary.

In writing, however, you will use FL, you are going to be detailed, complex, and striking. It's hard for me to write how I talk, because it's been so many years since I wrote in such a sense, and it has been so long since I wrote without consideration, but I will do my best:

Writing how you talk: "Donald ran across the road, and he almost got hit by a car. When he got to the other side of the road, he bumped into a lady walking her dog. The dog started barking, and Donald jumped when the dog started barking."

The writing is simple, it's not very interesting, and it's too 'this happened, this happened, Donald reacted. It's written like someone was literally telling you this story while on the phone, or something of the sort. Here is how it should be written:

"Donald sprinted across the road, and in the midst of this, he was nearly hit by a car. The car screeched to a stop, and he waved his hands out in front of it as to say 'sorry', of course the woman behind the wheel put on her best snarl to stare at him. Once across the road, he collided with a woman, and her dog began to yap at him in it's tiny, but vicious bark. It snapped at him, and he jumped at the snarling sound."

That one was written with Voice, with feeling. It's not written how you would tell someone on the street the story. If it was, we might actually be a seemingly smarter society because of the way we spoke.

Now, let us get into Character's speaking. Give each character a personality of his or her own. No character should even seem the same, they should all be interesting in their own way. Don't doubt, there will always been similarities between the characters, but each character needs to have a likable aspect about them, one that appelas to their personality. And going back to what I said earlier, do not force their Voice. Their Voice should come from their condition, the situation, who they are, and their personality.

If they are badly bruised, worked up on some kind of medical drug, or dying, take those things into account. Think about how the character would say it, humorously or sorrowfully. Then take into account some kind of real life aspect to this. Even though a character is funny, make their humor genuine and sweet. Don't make it 'You have to laugh or else'. Allow it to come naturally, make sure that the character is reacting naturally. If they do not react and speak naturally, then the flow is going to break. If you have a very serious flow, and now a character is dying, lighten the situation with a good smooth joke, that breaks back down quickly into seriousness. Have the joke be mildly interrupted by them coughing, bleeding, or groaning in pain. And then, remember to use descriptive phrases other than 'she said/he said/she replied/he replied'. In fact, sometimes go away from those things and start a whole new sentence, like this:

'"Do you remember that day, on the beach, when them seagulls was trapped in a plastic bag?" Eddie's eyes studied me, and I nodded. He licked his lips and went on. "And you remember-cough-how, even when we saved em', they still pecked the shit out of us?" He breathed a short laughed, and my face broke into a weary smile. Tears still streamed down the sides of my face, and Eddie's eyes were still dark with death.'

Do you kind of get it? make their words meaningful, make their words stand out, and make sure that the words that come after their words are extensions of them their characters. Sometimes in writing, it is true that action speaks louder than words. Let their actions coexist and improve upon their words. Allow their voice to be enhanced with the mood, and allow their Voice to coexist and imrpove upon your own Voice.

So, that was my little tidbit about Character Voice, and I hope that you are able to take something from this, and I hope that you enjoyed this little post. If I helped you, spread the word and link others to this blog, share it on Facebook and twitter, and follow me on Google+

See you guys!